Rihanna Calls out Snapchat for Inappropriate Ad, Snapchat Gives Another “App-ology”
Snapchat’s game ad of “Would You Rather?” asked users if they would rather “Slap Rihanna” or “Punch Chris Brown,” making light of domestic violence.
During this time of the #MeToo and Time’s Up Movements, Snapchat seemed to miss the mark with this game ad. The ad, which asked users if they would rather “Punch Chris Brown” or “Slap Rihanna,” made light of a domestic dispute that occurred between the two while they were dating back in 2009.
BBC stated that social media ads are subject to go through a review process while also having a list of banned content.
Snapchat stated, “The advert was reviewed and approved in error, as it violates our advertising guidelines. We immediately removed the ad last weekend, once we became aware. We are sorry that this happened.”
Many users have expressed their outrage on Twitter including Chelsea Clinton. Rihanna also criticized the social media app for the ignorant ad on her Instagram story with saying, “You spent money to animate something that would intentionally bring shame to DV victims and made a joke of it!!!”
Just awful. Awful that anyone thinks this is funny. Awful that anyone thinks this is appropriate. Awful that any company would approve this. Thank you Brittany for calling this out.
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) March 12, 2018
Rihanna said delete Snapchat so guess what I’m doing!!! #Navy
— Joe Budden (@JoeBudden) March 15, 2018
Is it just me, or is this ad that popped up on my Snapchat extremely tone deaf? Like what were they thinking with this? pic.twitter.com/7kP9RHcgNG
— Royce Mann (@TheRoyceMann) March 12, 2018
The thing about the Rihanna ad on Snapchat is that they DEFINITELY review their ads. One time they declined my students’ geofilter bc it had the Strip skyline and they said that ‘promoted gambling’. But I guess domestic violence is okay?
— amb. 🌻 (@AmberSevart) March 16, 2018
All parties involved in @Snapchat running an ad making a joke of domestic abuse need to be fired. For this to have been approved, let alone created in the first place, is beyond horrifying. @rihanna, you and all other victims deserve better than that. #Snapchat #Rihanna
— Melissa Schwartz (@MelSchwa) March 15, 2018
Snapchat has deleted the ad and apologized again following Rihanna’s statement.
“This advertisement is disgusting and never should have appeared on our service,” Snapchat stated. “We are so sorry we made the terrible mistake of allowing it through our review process. We are investigating how that happened so that we can make sure it never happens again.”
Snapchat is still suffering the consequences for their offensive ad, as they have lost $800 million after Rihanna ripped the social app.
